California power technology company moves HQ to Durham after landing NC incentives
Smart Wires, a power technology startup from San Francisco, said Tuesday it is moving its headquarters to Durham and bringing 250 jobs to the city.
The decision comes after the company was approved for a Job Development Investment Grant worth $2.8 million over the next 12 years. The payments will only be given to the company if it meets hiring and investment goals set by the state.
In addition, Durham County has offered the company $125,000 worth of incentives.
Smart Wires, which works with existing electric utilities to improve power grids, chose Durham over Austin, Texas, according to the state’s Commerce Department, which approved the incentives on Tuesday.
Founded in 2010, Smart Wires has raised nearly $180 million from investors, according to Crunchbase. The firm’s technology helps utility companies more efficiently allocate their energy supply, helping reroute excess capacity to higher need areas.
The new jobs will have an average wage of $118,360, according to the Commerce Department, a number significantly higher than Durham County’s average wage of $75,892.
Those jobs will include the company’s executive team, including its chief executive, chief financial officer and head of human resources. Other roles like finance and IT will be placed at the Durham office.
“With the rapidly increasing demand for grid enhancing technologies around the world, we’re at a critical inflection point in our journey,” Smart Wires CEO Peter Wells said in a statement. “This move to the Research Triangle area provides the ideal support for rapid and sustained growth, and better positioning for our global customer base, and manufacturing and supply chain partnerships.”
Smart Wires plans to invest more than $21 million in the new headquarters project.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate.
